Summer Oh Nine!

The clan are all doing great. The King and I have just returned from a super, fantastic, 4-day golf vacation in Deerhurst -- sans kids!! Thanks to Dino Princess's BFF, her mom and aunt who took on the three rugrats again this year for a kiddie vacation. While the kids were on vaca from the 'rents, the 'rents were having fun with Uncle Poop King and his betrothed! Here's a photo of our final round of golf (where the Klassen team allowed Clarke team to win). Rematch . . . summer 2010 in West Virginia! Anyone want three kids for a week??






Coming home was actually quite fun. Baby Blue Eye's kept repeating over and over, "I missed you so much, I love you so much, I just want to hug you so much, I'm so glad you are home". It's nice to be missed and loved!

We spent a day at the beach just before we left for Huntsville. . .aren't we so lucky to live 10 minutes from such a fab hangout??

Summer Oh Nine v2

We've made the trek to William's Lake a couple of times this summer, though it's been a mellow couple of trips. The first weekend was short and sweet, as we only had three days and spent two of them driving. The second weekend was a bit better, though the King was recovering from surgery and so our trip was a bit more mellow than normal (ie. less visiting and consumption of alcoholic beverages). Nonetheless, a great time was had by all.

We caught fish. . . spent time with the family . . . and enjoyed some boating fun.

Wordless Wednesday

I wonder what she's trying to tell us??

Goodbye old pal

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Bubba this past month.

Bubba was a great cat with a wonderful personality. I met Bubba when he was a few days old at a clinic where I was working as a student. He had a bum eye, and no one wanted to adopt him. Whilst hand feeding him and treating his bad eye over the next few weeks, I fell in love with this little orange kitty's "character". He had a funny little meow that was more like a squawk, and he had a charming little way of convincing you to give him a little love. His favorite thing was to be scratched on the head, and to curl up beside whomever was closeby. Bubba made a great matchbox car ramp, was a cool reading buddy and appreciated chasing strings.

At the age of 19 yrs, Bubba was still adept at defending his turf. Unfortunately, while the tresspassing siamese has not returned, Bubba did suffer some wounds that gradually overwhelmed him. Still purring away, we had to make the decision to let him pass peacefully. I find it so difficult to make the decision to let go, to give up and to say that this is the last minute of life.

Even more difficult, was explaining it to the kids. Words were not adequate and the truth only became real during our little funeral/burial service. There were many tears shed that night, and since then. It was sad to see them grieving and missing their pal so much.

We miss you Bubba!

Happy Birthday Froggie Princess!

As a new day dawns in the Klassen Clan, so does a special gal's birthday! Today our little tadpole turns 5!! YIKES . . . can you believe this little tornado has turned into such an easy going little gal. Here's a photo of the birthday girl and her party pals!

Whoa Laddy!

Dino Princess started horseback riding lessons a week ago. We have been trying to find a new activity for her that combines her love of animals with her natural athletic ability. We may have hit the jackpot (well, maybe not considering that she's already asking for a horse of her own)!

Here's a photo of Dino Princess learning how to walk and then "post" on 28 year old Laddy!

New family photos

Now that we won't blow the surprise, we decided that for Mother's Day we'd get family photos done for Grandma and Gram.

Enjoy!

Happy Gotcha Day Froggie Princess!

April 4th marked the fourth anniversary of the date that we first met Froggie Princess. Thinking back to that day -- it's amazing that that sad, scared little baby is now now our delightfully happy and easy-going daughter. How blessed we are to have her in our lives!

Every year, several families from our 2005 travelgroup get together at the Toronto Zoo to celebrate our anniversary and rekindle our friendships. Yesterday was the date - but the weather did not cooperate, so we made a slight alteration in plans and had our reunion at the Ontario Science Centre. What fun we had!

So here is a photo of the seven girls from 4 years ago . . . and of five of them yesterday. Wow these gals are growing up fast! Happy 4th Gotcha day to the Chenzhou Gals!

Oh and I couldn't resist posting a picture of a science experiment we did yesterday. You are probably all familiar with the electrical thingy that makes your hair stand on end. Well we were hypothesizing about whether or not it would straighten Baby Blue Eyes' curly locks. Check it out! He's got a funny look on his face because he's shaking his head to loosen his hair -- not because we are torturing him. In truth, he was dying to get up there and so thrilled about the experience that he did it twice!

The Tooth Fairy Has ARRiVED!

Finally! After much angst about being one of only TWO kids in her class who had not yet lost a tooth, Dino Princess has joined the ranks of those who have been visited by the TOoTH Fairy!

She lost the first one April 1st, and a second one on May 2nd (not pictured here).

SO . . . how does the tooth fairy get under a kid's pillow without the kid knowing?

"She's tiny and you can't even feel her".

"Oh, sort of like a Minemoya (from the movie: Arthur and the Invisibles)".

"Oh yes, that's it!"

"So if she's so tiny, how does she carry my huge tooth out and fly away with it? If she was a Minemoya, it would be too heavy for her to carry."

Jeez, I hate all these little white truths!

Spring in our step!

Egad! I had no idea that it's been MONTHS since my last post. Seems like just yesterday that we were hanging out in white stuff -- when lo an behold . . . suddenly I wake up and it's May! Truthfully, this past few months have been insanely busy. Work, work and more work. But it's finally returning to some semblance of normal and as such I have a pile of photos to work through and post!

We ventured back to Florida in March with a much quieter vacation than last year. Two other families in tow, this time we had no side trips to the hospital and no extended stays (though we all would have enjoyed that). Just reconnecting with our kids and each other. Ahhh. . . that was fun!

We spent a ton of time around the pool, made some new friends, caught some lizards, visited the beach, got to see the launch of the space shuttle, did some shopping and checked out the gators at Gatorland (where the girls each enjoyed wrestling a real live one).

Baby Blue Eyes turns THREE!

Baby Blue Eyes turned THREE while we were in the sunny state! The big fella celebrated with his best pals from “school” at the local bowling alley. He was delighted to turn “free” and to have all his friends there to help him dig into the cake.

I often sit back and marvel at how quickly my baby has grown up to be such a charming and brilliant little man. He loves Lightning McQueen and anything with wheels. In fact a couple of weeks ago, the King was flipping through the sports channel and was ordered to STOP at the N@scar race. What was even more shocking was that the King complied!!!!

BabyBlueEyes is growing like a bad weed. He’s nearly as big as the girls (only about an inch shorter than FrogPrincess and weighing 2 lbs more) and I’m constantly being asked if he’s starting JK next year. Sadly, no – but I don’t know why not cause the kid is brilliant. At “free”, he knows all his colours, shapes, numbers and letters (even the sounds the letters make). Yah . . . I’m bragging!

Another perk of turning three is that BBE was finally able to join TaeKwonDo. When Dino Princess heard the news that he was joining she said, "Mom, I don’t know about this. You know, I have a picture in my head. It’s a picture of BBE not listening. Sigh . . . . I’d better get to work teaching him.” (this coming from the gal who taught her brother how to pee standing up).

And so she did . . . teaching him all the moves she could over the next three days. When the time finally came for BBE’s first lesson, that was even more hilarious! Dino Princess was the doting mother to her little prodigy. Every time Sir gave them another exersize, she took it upon herself to ensure that her brother was doing it right. At one point, the King and I were trying desperately to contain ourselves as she looked at him in disgust and said, “That isn’t how I taught you to do this!”. Fortunately, BBE was oblivious to the wrath of his sister and actually amazed us all at how well he did.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY big boy! We are so proud of you.

Who knew?

The kids have been bugging us to take them skiing for a while now, so two weeks ago we ventured out. It was one of the many weekends this year that we got a huge dump of snow - so there was probably about 4inches of powder. Perfect for an almost 3 year old, a 4-1/2 year old and a 6 year old who have never been on skis before.

The Princesses started out with an hour lesson with a pro. By the end of the hour they were riding the magic carpet on their own and flying down the bunny hill solo.

The King hasn't been on skis in 20 years, so he decided to get comfortable on his own for a while.

Baby Blue Eyes was too young for a lesson, so we got a harness and I headed up the bunny hill with him. Three times down the hill and he ditched the harness in favor of smooth sailing! He was having a little trouble with the concept of a "pizza stop", so whenever he wanted to stop he would either sit down or do a somersault through his skis. I was sure that the first time he got a faceful of snow, that we'd be done for the day. I was SO wrong. He came up laughing and excited to get back up again.

I was so amazed at how quickly each of them picked up the sport. Four and a half hours later (at 8pm & just 1 hour past bedtime), they could barely pick up their feet. Screaming "Just one more run!" and kicking all the way, they could barely pick up their feet and none was in any shape to carry their skiis back up to the van.

That was my first lesson. I had my boot bag strapped over my shoulder with three helmets hanging off it. I was carrying one set of skiis and poles behind my back, while balancing Baby Blue Eyes piggyback style on them. Needless to say . . . I was glad we didn't bring the camera!

Since that first day, the kids have been begging us to take them back again. Today was sunny and warm (-2C), so we got up and headed out first thing this morning. This time we were smart and brought a toboggan to carry all the gear. It was a bit of a different ride, with no powder (given our 7C weather yesterday). But the end result was the same -- three kids very unhappy about having to leave!

Unfortunately I don't have a single photo of them learning to ski. I couldn't find any room on the toboggan for the camera! :)

Whoopee!

This is our idea of winter paradise! These photos were taken mid-January, after 2 days of snow dumping on us.

Seems that we've hit the jackpot this year as far as winter weather goes! Snow is piled as high as the hot tub on our back deck. The snowbanks at the end of our driveway are as tall as I remember them seeming to be when I was a kid (10 ft at least - no need to travel to a tobogganning hill, we've got one right here). The rink is FANTABULOUS (thanks to Daddy's dedication and hard work) and the kids are skating nearly every day. I LOVE WINTER! Whooooohooooo!

Ok, I'll admit that it's been a little colder than I'd like and I'd appreciate the seeing the sun a bit more frequently - but what the heck - it's winter and it's Canada and at least there's snow to play in.

I'm including lots of pictures of the kids enjoying our winter wonderland! Some of them include a visit from Papa, Uncle Bry, Aunt V, Vennie and the Mighty M.